No I.D. Explains How He Got Kanye To Self-Produce "Otis"

Remember a few weeks prior to the release of Watch the Throne when the production list leaked? That's when the deal got serious, because after the whole "H.A.M." fiasco, people were slightly dubious over Kanye and Jay's production choices due to the decision to link up with Lex Luger for their supposed masterpiece (not that there's anything wrong with Lex Luger). You had RZA, Swizz Beatz, The Neptunes and more on the full LP, but aside from "Otis," there wasn't that classic Kanye solo-produced record that landed him those top slots in the game prior. In truth, that was never supposed to happen, but in a recent (and exceptionally lengthy) interview with Complex, producer No I.D., who's fingerprints aren't on Watch the Throne, revealed how his input convinced Kanye to produce "Otis" alone.

A lot of times I’m very outspoken with my opinion, respectfully. At that time, I felt like the album [Watch the Throne] was missing those records—there’s a Kanye element that people want. We can’t get a Kanye/Jay-Z album without that.

Specifically “Otis,” that was the record. I was like, “The sample record that Kanye does with no co-producer, where is that? The record that’s not based on anything else that has that personality that he does.” We challenge each other, so I was like, “You’re just going to do an album, and you’re not going to do one of those? What’s up?”

Kanye was like, “Okay. I got that,” and they did it a couple days later. So I’m not taking credit for it, I’m just saying that from a business perspective, I heard a comment where Barry Weiss was like, “That’s real A&Ring.”

Honest dude. If you want to catch the rest of the interview where he goes on to discuss his A&R work, Def Jam and more, hit the jump over to Complex.